I should be happy beyond measure. Ecstatic, and pleased with myself.

Instead I was on the verge of tears, as I worried and panicked.

Lying on the bed, I glared at the arm just under my chin.

Vim was actually holding me. In bed. As we slept… or at least, as I tried to.

We hadn't slept, nor done anything else, but it was still something of note worth. Something that I knew I'd cherish as a memory for the rest of my life.

Ever since he's allowed me to sleep with him, while touching him, he's always been gentle. He's allowed me to sleep on his chest. His arms. I've even slept on his lap or on his side since I sometimes lay against him at an angle. And even when I did those things he's never complained, at least not vocally.

He's even on a few occasions held my hand, or gently touched me as he slept. A few times he had even rested an arm along my side, or back, as he slept too.

But not once has he ever actually held me close like this. Not once.

So for it to have finally happened… and for it to have only happened because he was seemingly having a small crisis was very upsetting, not to mention concerning.

He was holding me from behind, and his arms were wrapped around my waist and chest. My own arms held his, but only because I wasn't sure where else to put them. My head rested on a pillow, rather two, since I was lying on my side and at an odd angle thanks to Vim.

I sighed as I listened to the birds on the roof. The sun had started to rise, distantly, and they were noisy about it. I wasn't sure why there seemed to be so many birds living on the roof of Cat's house, when she had several cats as pets.

My sigh reminded me of how tightly Vim was holding me. He had wrapped his arms around me, as if to hug me deeply, but it honestly didn't feel like a hug. In fact it felt even a little awkward, and almost uncomfortable. He was lucky the bed was comfortable, else I'd likely have complained.

Glaring at the other bed, the one that Lilly had claimed but never slept in, I wondered what to say or think.

Vim was being weird. Very weird. Even for him.

Last night he had told me what had bothered him about Elaine's prophecy. That she had confirmed to him, somehow, that a god had created a monarch.

And somehow admitting that fact had made Vim panic and look as if the world was ending, and then he wrapped me in a strong hug. One so strong it had hurt at first, since he had been squeezing me so hard.

Luckily I was unharmed, as far as I could tell, but now… somehow worse… was that Vim had gone all quiet and moody.

He was still awake. And he hadn't held me like this while we had walked into the house and up to our room, but he had been so lost in thought he hadn't even noticed Cat teasing him as he followed me up the stairs. He had simply followed me to the room, after standing by that pond in the dark of the night for well over an hour, and then once I had lain down he had wrapped me in this strange hug.

Frowning at my own thoughts, I drifted into my memories and thought about all the hugs I've gotten from him. I remembered each one, of course, and I was a little upset that there weren't many to remember. And most of them were only because of great emotion, on my end, not his.

When Vim normally hugged me, whether out of simple love and affection or because he was trying to console me as I wept, he did so gently. Wrapping me with his arms around my shoulders and sides, with his hands usually ending just above my hips. It was an affectionate hug. One that made me conscious when he did it, since it was something a little more intimate than a normal hug.

Yet this was not like that at all. It was almost as if he was clinging to me for dear life. As if we were drowning in the ocean, and he couldn't swim.

Vim.

Drowning.

And clinging to me for dear life.

It was so ridiculous I still couldn't believe what was happening.

Just what had bothered him so much…? It couldn't have been the fact that a god had made a monarch… right? I mean he had gotten shocked upon hearing of it from Elaine, but he had seemed to calm down rather well. He hadn't eaten dinner with us, after he had heard of the whole prophecy, but that wasn't too strange either. Vim sometimes stepped away, leaving me to deal with the people we were visiting… so him doing that, and standing outside and staring at the world around us for hours, was not something weird or unusual either.

But this? This strange quietness, as he clung to me?

He's never done this before. Nothing like it. At all.

Even when I'd seen him get emotional or angry, he's not been like this.

So… what had caused it…?

I remembered last night's conversation. I went through it again and again. Searching for any sign, or possible hint as to what had made him this way… but couldn't think of anything. It had to be about the monarch, and the god, but why? How?

After all, Vim supposedly hunted them.

Killed them.

How did, or would, a god summoning a monarch; both things he's proven himself capable of handling, cause him to get this way?

Maybe it wasn't related to the prophecy at all.

Maybe it was something else.

My ears shifted, and I felt my left ear smack Vim in the face. I didn't apologize though, as I listened to a door downstairs open slowly.

I heard Cat yawn as she stepped out of her room, to greet the new day.

Great. I hadn't slept at all.

It was all Vim's fault. I was actually tired. Plus now my head hurt… and I was hungry! Also, I needed to go use the restroom.

"You didn't sleep at all, Renn," Vim then whispered.

Oh…!

My heart leapt into my throat, and I resisted the urge to wiggle around and face him.

He had finally spoken! I had tried to talk to him all through the night, with no success! Yet here he was, talking to me! And he sounded normal!

I knew he'd get better!

I couldn't resist smiling at him. Of course he'd not suffer his strangeness for long. This was Vim we were talking about.

"You didn't sleep either," I said carefully, unable to hide my smile in my voice but also not willing to say much more.

A part of me wanted to blame him for keeping me up, with his strangeness, but honestly it was okay. Plus I knew I'd look back on this moment lovingly, since it had a sweet awkwardness to it.

"I'm used to it," he said simply.

"Strangely I've begun to get used to it too," I admitted.

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Not really, but I wanted to be.

"That's not a good thing," he mumbled.

"It's not… but it's your fault," I said as I tried to shift.

For a small moment Vim's arms wouldn't budge… as if to keep me from turning around… but within the next moment, before I could stop trying, his arms and grip loosened. I resisted the urge to grin wildly at him as I rolled over, and found myself face to face with him.

He still had his arms around me, and I felt oddly giddy as I enjoyed the moment… since I knew it wouldn't last.

We were almost lying perfectly. The way a husband and wife should.

My fingers twitched, since I wanted to wrap my arms around him. But I knew the moment I did he'd likely shift and release me. So I held my own desires at bay as I stared at the man who looked… bored all of a sudden.

Where'd that look of pure terror go?

"Are you… feeling better?" I asked carefully.

"Mhm. Maybe."

Oh? That had sounded normal, but I had felt him twitch. Maybe a toe?

"I'm to assume you won't, or don't, want to talk about it?" I asked.

"For now, if you're willing to let it be," he said.

I wasn't, but knew better than to press it.

"Can I at least ask if you're okay?" I asked.

"I am."

I wanted to frown, since his voice had sounded a little off. Had that just been a lie?

Cat coughed downstairs, and then sneezed. I smiled at the sounds, as I heard her start to rummage and clank something metal together. Either she was getting a bath ready, or starting her morning tea.

"This bed isn't very big," Vim then said.

"Hm…? No. But it's fine when we're like this," I said. It wouldn't have been big enough for us to have slept separately, now that I thought about it.

"Like this," he commented.

I nodded, and liked the feel of my ears smacking his head in the process. Enough so that I actually lowered my head, placing my forehead against Vim's chin, as to push my ears onto his head and into his hair.

"What are you doing…?" he mumbled into my ears and hair, making them feel even weirder, as I moved them around in his hair.

"Feels funny. Your hair on my ears," I said as I wondered what it felt like. I didn't have words to properly describe it, but I did enjoy it. It was almost similar to the feeling I got when I combed my hair, somehow.

Vim sighed, but said nothing… nor moved as he allowed me to keep doing it.

"You held me weirdly all night, I deserve a little weird stuff of my own," I said with a grin.

"Weird…" he mumbled the word, not intending it as a response.

Glad my face was turned downward, as it became hot; I realized I was probably doing something as equally outrageous as he had done through the night.

Closing my eyes, I held back a groan as I felt stupid.

What was the equivalent of ears touching a person's face? For a human? What if Vim saw it as something sexual?

As much as I'd like him to do so, and to finally acknowledge such a thing was even possible, another part of me sincerely hoped it didn't happen here and now.

It'd be very weird if he did something now. Especially since I'd always wonder if he had only done so because of his weirdness, and not out of genuine desire.

"And so what's on your mind, to be squirming and making such odd noises?" Vim asked, and I noted the teasing in his voice.

"Don't ask," I groaned.

He chuckled at me, and I felt my face grow hotter.

Right! I'm as much a hypocrite as he was, and I knew it!

For a few moments he let me groan and wallow in my own embarrassing disappointment, but it didn't take long for me to calm back down and lean back a little as to look him in the face again.

He still seemed bored. Tired maybe… but at least now he had a small smile.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I was fine hours ago, but I was enjoying your little mumbles and groans through the night," he said.

"That's rude," I said as my tail smacked him on the thigh.

"It is. I am," he agreed.

I sighed at him and wondered if maybe I should just start demanding him to be more open with me. After all, he did love me. Would he be able to resist that love? If I pressed it? What if I demanded honesty in return for my affection…?

I honestly didn't want our relationship to be such a thing. But how long would, and could, I go like this?

There was no doubt that Vim kept secrets for good reason. Like his true bloodline. His reasons for hiding it were sound. Even if I wished he'd trust me to not judge him, or reveal it, if he'd tell me.

So him keeping secrets, and being odd because of them… was understandable. He was old. Possibly thousands of years old. It was bound he'd have more than a few, and many were likely things I didn't want to even know.

But sometimes I really wished… he'd just rely on me a little more.

He rarely did. For anything too serious. Even stuff like helping our members through their rough moments and tears, such as Fly, was really not that big a deal. I'd do such a thing even if he didn't ask me to. So I didn't see such things as me helping him, or doing something for him.

Yet as much as I wanted him to really rely upon me, I knew I also didn't wish to. Because if he needed help that drastic, it would probably be something scary or dangerous. The type that wouldn't end well.

Pondering that for a moment, I heard a tiny bang downstairs, and then I heard Cat's voice as she grumbled.

"Did she hurt herself?" I asked.

"Sounds like it."

Poor Cat. She really was not a morning person, was she?

"She'll likely be heading up here shortly. As much as you'd like to tease her by letting her see this, my shoulder is stiff," Vim said as he started to shift.

"What…?"

I stayed still as he unwrapped his arms around me and started to shift away, letting me go and separating us. I somewhat rolled over, falling to the bed as I rolled off his arm.

"Hm," Vim nodded as he rolled over, and I was half tempted to smack him.

It was one thing to be so weird, but to then claim he had a stiff shoulder! Somehow I doubted it! Did he actually feel such ailments?

Hesitating a moment, I realized I didn't know.

Vim very well might feel such aches and pains. Maybe he just never displayed such things. Maybe his strange healing abilities weren't foolproof…

It'd make sense. The morning was cold. The kind of cold that made old scars ache. And we hadn't laid under the covers, so…

"I'd like us to leave soon. Honestly either today or tomorrow," Vim said as he sat up.

Being left behind on the bed, I suddenly felt cold and empty. As if naked all of a sudden.

Hurriedly sitting up too, I glared at him as he rolled around as to put his feet off the bed and onto the ground. He didn't seem to notice or care that I felt abandoned as he scratched at his head, ruffling his hair.

Oh…? Maybe he felt weird thanks to what I'd been doing earlier. How cute.

Maybe I could forgive him then.

"Already Vim…?" I asked softly. I was okay with leaving, but I also kind of had hoped to stick around a little. Wasn't he going to build me a home?

"Meriah is looking for me. So I'd like to go get Lilly's daughter and head back south along the coast as soon as possible."

"Meriah…? What for?" I asked. Why was this the first time I heard of this?

"She sometimes searches me out when she has a problem she can't handle herself. I need to find her quick, else depending on the direness of the problem she might just try to handle it herself alone. I like Meriah, I'd feel horrible if she died because I'd not helped her," Vim said.

I groaned as I hurriedly got off the bed too. "You should have said something, Vim. We could have left last night," I said.

"No. We would not have been able to," Vim stated.

"Why not?"

"I'd been rather upset…" he said.

A little stunned he had admitted it, I watched as he sighed and shook his head at himself. He stepped away from the bed and glanced out the window, studying it as he did.

"I'll fix her floor, and the chair I broke. While I do, please get whatever you need done while you can. She's old, Renn, even for a saint… being a human and all. There's a chance she may pass before you see her again, so make sure you don't leave anything left unsaid," Vim warned.

I groaned at him. "I was trying to not acknowledge how old she is," I admitted myself.

He chuckled at me.

Stepping over to the third bed, where I'd laid all of my excess outer clothes, I went to getting properly dressed.

"I'll get ready. We can leave today, Vim. Just give me a few hours if you can," I asked.

"That's fine. As I said, tomorrow morning works too."

I shook my head. "I'll not be able to survive another night wrapped up like that," I said as I put on my heavier coat.

"Survive…? Had I hurt you?" Vim turned towards me, and I flinched at the worry in his voice.

He had misunderstood.

Taking a small breath, I coughed and pulled my hood up over my head… to hide from his gaze a little.

"No… I was fine," I said, feeling the heat rush to my face.

"Hm…?" Vim didn't sound convinced, but I wasn't sure if I wanted him to be anyway.

For a few moments I debated telling him my real meaning, but decided against it. For now, at least.

Especially since Cat was climbing the stairs, likely to check to see if I was awake.

Going to the door, to greet her and start my goodbyes… I did my best to ignore Vim's odd smirk that I noticed in the corner of my eye.

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